1. Field of the Invention
This invention concerns a holder for a solid immersion lens.
2. Related Background of the Invention
A solid immersion lens (SIL) is known as a lens for magnifying an image of an observed object. This solid immersion lens has a hemispherical shape or a hyperhemispherical shape, called a Weierstrass sphere, and is a microlens with a size of approximately 1 mm to 5 mm. When this solid immersion lens is put in close contact with a surface of an observed object, since both the numerical aperture NA and the magnification are increased, observation at high spatial resolution is enabled.
A device, for which the observed object is a semiconductor wafer and with which a solid immersion lens is put in close contact with a rear surface of the semiconductor wafer to inspect the fine characteristics of the interior of the semiconductor wafer through a microscope, has thus been proposed (see for example, Document 1: Japanese Patent Publication No. H7-18806). A device, for which the observed object is an optical recording medium and with which a solid immersion lens is put in close contact with a rear surface of a transparent substrate of the optical recording medium by being pushed against the rear surface by means of a spring to observe pits, record marks, etc., on the optical recording medium through a microscope, has also been proposed (see for example, Document 2: Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H11-305135).